The incubator baby

BABY

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

GIFT OF

David Freedman

THE INCUBATOR BABY

THE

INCUBATOR BABY

BY

ELLIS PARKER BUTLER

AUTHOR OF " PIGS is PIGS," ETC.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY
MAY WILSON PRESTON

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

NEW YORK AND LONDON

1906

Copyright, 1906

BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

(PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

PUBLISHED, SEPTEMBER 1906

PS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Dozens of faces peered at her curiously

Frontispiece

FACING
PAGE

"But if the day comes when she's en
tered to creep, and she don't creep,
what am I going to do about it?" 48

Chiswick tied her to the head of the
crib with a slip of antiseptic bandage 56

Mr. Fielding was on his hands and
knees playing " peek-boo !" ... 64

On the sunniest slope of the
garden of Paradise the trees
stand in long, pleasant rows.
The air is always balmy, and
the trees are forever in bloom
with pink and white blossoms.
From a distance the trees look
like apple trees, but, close at
hand, you see that the pink and
white blossoms are little bows
and streamers of ribbon and
that the boughs are swaying
gently with the weight of many
dimpled babies.

Walking up and down be-

THE INCUBATOR BABY

neath the trees are kind old
storks, and as they walk they
turn their heads, looking up
ward to see where there may
be a sweet pink and white
baby ready to be carried away,
out of the garden into the big,
strange world. It is a vast
garden, and there are many
trees and many storks, and every
moment there is a whirring of
strong wings and a stork has
passed out of the confines of
the garden with the dearest gift
that Heaven can give to woman.
The storks are very grave and
very careful, but that is because
only storks of mature age are
allowed to carry the precious
babies. The younger storks

THE INCUBATOR BABY

may stand on one leg and watch
their elders, or they may hop
awkwardly between the trees to
amuse the babies, but they are
never permitted to pick the
babies from their leafy cradles,
nor to attempt such a delicate
undertaking as flying away with
them into the outside world.

But one day the very young
est of the storks got into mis
chief and before its elders knew
what it was about it had flown
into one of the trees. It tried
to lift one of the biggest, plump
est, prettiest of the babies, but
it was such a small stork it could
do no more than make the baby
sway to and fro on its branch,
so it picked the very smallest
3

THE INCUBATOR BABY

baby on the tree, and carried it
straight to the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Vernon Fielding, and left
it there rather unexpectedly.

If ever there was a surprised
baby it was Marjorie Fielding.
She did not care for the Ver
non Fielding home in the least.
She vastly preferred Paradise;
it was far more comfortable, and
she had just made a decision to
return there immediately, when
a very remarkable thing hap
pened. It seemed to Marjorie
that the Fieldings cared as little
for her as she cared for the at
mosphere of their home, for she
was rolled in soft cotton,
wrapped again and again in
flannel cloths, and a large man
4

THE INCUBATOR BABY

with soft hands carried her
away.

When she awoke she had an
impression that she must be
back on her own twig in the
garden of Paradise. The air
was soft and balmy and very
warm, but when she opened
her eyes everything was strange.
There were no trees, no gently
swaying branches, and no kindly
old storks parading below her.
Instead, she gazed into dozens
of faces that peered at her curi
ously. They were faces of men
and women, and those in the
back rows tried, by twisting and
turning and peering through
small openings, to get as clear
a view as those in the front row

THE INCUBATOR BABY

had. There were all sorts of
faces and they showed all sorts
of emotions. Some expressed
the most violent curiosity, some
were softened by kindly pity,
some wore expressions of dis
appointment as if the show was
not as interesting as they had
expected, and some showed a
certain weak disgust.

Marjorie wondered lazily
why they were there. Prob
ably they were some amuse
ment contrived by a mistaken
person for her entertainment.
If so, she wished the amusement
discontinued; it had too many
eyes in it.

"Isn't it wonderful!" she
heard one of the faces say.
6

THE INCUBATOR BABY

"Before the invention of incu
bators nearly every one of them
died, and now they hardly lose
one in ten"; and another said,
disdainfully: "And to think I
paid me decent money to see
dis! I'm easy, I am. Come
on, let's shoot the chutes"; but
one face, a sweet face, said:
"Poor, dear, sweet little baby.
It makes my heart ache," and
Marjorie liked that face. She
fixed her eyes on it and for the
first time in her very few hours
of life something in her own
heart pulled toward a face.
She wanted that face to stay
there; it was motherly. That
was it, the face was motherly,
and deep in the small heart of
7

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Marjorie there was a desire to
be mothered and loved, but the
face passed on and never came
back again.

From the first day the incu
bator people were proud of
Marjorie. She was the smallest
baby of all those in the long
row of incubators; "one pound
and eight ounces when born/*
the placard above her incubator
said; but she grew rapidly.
When she was sixteen days old
she weighed two pounds, and
after that you could see her
grow. She slept a great deal,
and was fed constantly and her
crystal palace was like a little
hothouse.

For several days, shortly after
8

THE INCUBATOR BABY

her arrival, she was greatly wor
ried by a man who seemed to
have a desire to flirt with her.
He stood near at hand all day,
and hardly took his eyes off her,
and then only to examine the
thermostat that regulated the
heat in her nest. He seemed
to be more anxious than the
nurse that Marjorie should not
be baked too brown, and from
time to time he made ridiculous
passes at her with his hands or
screwed his face into peculiar
shapes that sought to be amus
ing. It was most disconcerting.
Marjorie tried to appear un
conscious of all his antics.
When she could not avoid
looking at him she stared at
9

THE INCUBATOR BABY

«

him coldly, but that did not
seem to dishearten him. Even
a cold glance filled him with
joy, and once, when she was
preparing a little cry and had
screwed her face into the pre
scribed shape, he grasped the
attendant by the arm and ex
claimed: "She's smiling! Isn't
she smiling?' Marjorie was
quite ashamed, he was so idiot
ically ecstatic. She learned later
that he was her father, and that
for some reason fathers have a
right to do that sort of thing.
In fact, it is rather nice when
one gets used to it.

But the great day was the
day of her mother's coming.
The nurse had prepared Mar

THE INCUBATOR BABY

jorie for it. "Little girl, your
mother is coming to-day."

Marjorie watched closely for
her mother all that day. She
scanned the faces that came and
went, picking out those she
thought might be her mother,
but she could not be sure, for
they all passed by. All the
faces she chose were kind young
faces, and she was rather sur
prised when her mother finally
came. She did not recognize
her for quite a while.

A tall lady came to the in
cubator in company with the
nurse. She examined the incu
bator carefully, and asked a
great many questions about
temperature, the sanitation, ali-
ii

THE INCUBATOR BABY

mentation and digestion and
other scientific things. She ex
amined the record chart care
fully, and asked the nurse if
Marjorie's weight was not in
creasing less than the proper
average, and when the nurse
assured her that Marjorie was
surpassing the average she ob
jected to that and said that she
had no desire for her to grow
so rapidly she would be soft
and pulpy« Then she exam
ined the nurse carefully and
critically regarding her experi
ence with babies, and all the
while she made notes in a small
memorandum book. She copied
everything on the record chart,
and asked to have Marjorie

12

THE INCUBATOR BABY

weighed, and put the weight
down in the little memorandum
book.

"I wish to be very careful
and exact/' she said, "for I am
her mother, and if I do not
look after these things no one
will," and Marjorie knew this
was her mother. She waited
patiently for the preliminaries
to be completed so that the
real mother business could be
gin, but her mother must have
been very busy that day, for
she went away without being
really introduced to Marjorie.

Marjorie was disappointed.

She had become used to being

regarded as an entertainment

tor the faces that passed by, and

13

THE INCUBATOR BABY

she had become accustomed to
have the incubator people re
gard her as a Case — a most
interesting Case, to be sure, but
still a Case — but she did not
like to have her mother look
upon her merely as a Statistic.

Her mother came after that,
almost daily for a week, and
then not so frequently. It was
not necessary, for the statistics
showed that Marjorie was mak
ing progress favorably, and Mrs.
Fielding was a very busy woman.
She believed in the broad life
for women, and a woman
broadens her life by stepping
out of the home occasionally.
The home is better for it.
When the woman is not a slave
14

THE INCUBATOR BABY

to the home, the home becomes
an ennobled place, and the
woman who can step out and
bring back culture and knowl
edge, and broader views of life
and things, is the only woman
who can raise the home to the
level of the man's life. Science
and system work wonders in the
home, as well as in the office
of the business man.

Mrs. Fielding was not a slave
to the home. I would sign her
certificate of freedom myself.
Neither did she look upon Mar-
jorie as a necessary evil. She
was glad and proud to be a
mother, and she loved Marjorie,
and wished to do all that is in
a mother's power for her, but
15

THE INCUBATOR BABY

she knew that many of the old
notions about babies were mis
taken ideas. The incubator it
self proved that. Science and
system are far more efficacious
than much of the old-fashioned
granny's twaddle. With the
help of educated minds Mrs.
Fielding meant to give Marjorie
an ideal mother's care.

Marjorie didn't care much for
the broader life herself. She was
incorrigibly like other babies.
She wanted to be fed when she
was hungry, to sleep when she
was sleepy, and to be loved and
mothered and petted whenever
she was not hungry nor sleepy,
and whatever a nickel-plated in
cubator may be able to do, it is
16

THE INCUBATOR BABY

not an adept at kissing. It may
exude balmy temperature better
than an old-style open fireplace,
but it is a failure at wrapping its
warm, soft arms around a baby,
and pressing its cheek against
a tiny, satin cheek. The very
cast-ironness of its construction
prevents it from lifting the in
fant high in the air until coos
and crows of baby laughter tell
of unsystematic, unscientific joy.
So Marjorie adopted the fly.

The fly came one day and
alighted on the glass door of
her crystal case and winked its
wings at her, and she blinked
her eyes at it, and after that
they understood each other per
fectly. It knew she wanted to
17

THE INCUBATOR BABY

be amused, and it knew it was
an amusing fellow. It had a
clever trick of shaking hands
with itself under its coat tails,
and as long as she knew it, it
never mentioned a statistic, and
altho it walked all over the ther
mostat, it disdained to look at
the figures. Marjorie and the
fly became good friends. There
was something very human about
the fly, far more than about the
constantly passing faces of the
sightseers, or the prim, statistical
nurse, or even the systematic,
broadened Mrs. Fielding, and
one day it slipped into the incu
bator and alighted on Marjorie's
lips, and kissed her. Shortly
after the scandalized nurse assas-
18

THE INCUBATOR BABY

sinated the fly, and Marjorie
would have mourned deeply but
for a new companion she dis
covered a little while afterward.

It was shortly before she was
sufficiently incubated to leave
her glass prison, and she was
fine and plump, and had begun
to roll over and bump her head
against the glass, surprising her
self greatly, for she could not
see the glass. If she had stayed
a little longer she would have
been afraid to move at all, for
wherever there was nothing to
be seen there might be that
hard, smooth wall that hurt her.

She was lying flat on her
downy pillow one morning,
watching the faces, when some-
19

THE INCUBATOR BABY

thing stirred at the foot of the
pillow. She raised her head a
very little but could see nothing,
but as soon as her head fell back
the thing moved again. She
was sure it moved, and she
waited quietly, and again it
moved. This time there seemed
to be two of the things. It was
puzzling, for the nurse never
allowed anything interesting in
side the case.

Marjorie lay low, and pres
ently, up, up, into her range of
vision crept a little pink and
white affair with five short,
plump branches, and just behind
it arose another. She cooed
with pleasure.

The things seemed quite tame

20

THE INCUBATOR BABY

and unafraid, and they came
nearer until they stood quite up
right on plump white branches.
Marjorie reached out her dim
pled hands, which wandered a
little uncertainly in the air,
wavering to and fro, until one
came in contact with one of the
plump, mysterious things. She
grasped it firmly, and it was soft
and pleasant to the touch.

The crowd of faces paused
and increased in number. They
seemed greatly interested as she
tried to catch the thing, and one
old man offered to bet she
would catch it. He was im
mensely tickled when she did
and grinned delightedly. Mar
jorie held fast to her captive.

21

THE INCUBATOR BABY

She pondered what she should
do with it, and finally decided
that it must be edible. She
drew it closer to her face, and
it resisted and tugged to get

DO D

away, but she dragged it on re
lentlessly.

It was a hard fight. The old
man coached her, cheering her
on to fresh endeavors, and, thus
encouraged, she made one great
final effort and pulled the soft
pink thing into her lips, and the
old man laughed long and loud
and wiped his eyes.

"Look at her!" he cried.
"Just look at her! Ain't she a
picter for you? I knowed she'd
get it, she's grit clean through."

A small boy, excited by the

22

THE INCUBATOR BABY

size of the crowd, pushed his
way to the front and looked,
and then turned away, indig
nant. "Huh!' he exclaimed
scornfully, "'tain't nut'in' but a
kid got its toe in its mout'!'

During her last days in the
incubator Marjorie and her feet
became fast friends. All the
long period of her loneliness
was forgotten in this new com
panionship. Never were there
more accommodating playmates
than those two gentle twins, for
they seemed to be twins, they
were so much alike in size and
appearance. They never forced
themselves forward. When Mar
jorie wanted to sleep the feet
lay quietly at the foot of the
23

THE INCUBATOR BABY

pillow, but the moment she felt
like playing they crept upward
and stood enticingly in her sight.
Sometimes she played with one,
and sometimes with the other,
and whichever was not needed
curled up snugly out of sight
and waited patiently until it was
needed.

They had glorious times to
gether. Usually she had no
trouble in catching a foot when
she wanted it, but sometimes
they played a little game with
her, and dodged about just be
yond her reach, coaxing her to
catch them, and eluding her
hands by the smallest part of an
inch, but this only made the fun
more riotous, and one of them
24

THE INCUBATOR BABY

always ended the game by letting
itself be captured.

But one day a wonderful
thing happened to Marjorie.
The nurse and the manager
came to Marjorie's incubator,
and consulted the chart, and
weighed Marjorie and pinched
her arms and legs to see whether
they were firm and solid, and
after that the air in the incu
bator lost a little of its warmth
every day, until it was as cool
as the air of the great outside
world.

Marjorie was playing the foot
game when the end came. She
had not the least idea that any
thing of the sort was going to
happen. No one thought of
25

THE INCUBATOR BABY

consulting her convenience in
the matter.

First her father and mother
appeared, and she might have
known that something unusual
was on foot if she had thought
about it, for they had never
before visited Marjorie simulta
neously, but Marjorie was too
deeply in the foot game to pay
attention to parents. Parents
were a necessity, but the foot
game was a joy.

The nurse, who often did
unaccountable things to Mar
jorie, did the most unaccount
able of all. She took Marjorie
from her bed on the soft pillow
and dressed her in stiff new gar
ments, and enfolded her in blan-
26

THE INCUBATOR BABY

kets and capes until she was
like a bundle of soft cloths,
with only a little peephole
for her eyes, and then, with
cruelty unthought of, she
handed her bodily to Mrs.
Fielding. Marjorie objected.
She foresaw some trick in all
this. She raised her voice and
protested, but they covered her
face with a soft white veil.
Marjorie indignantly went to
sleep.

When she awoke the world
had changed. She was in a
strange foreign land, where the
walls were of white and blue
tiles, and the ceiling was white,
and the floor was covered with
soft rugs. It may have been
27

THE INCUBATOR BABY

beautiful but it was not home.
There was no incubator.

There were charts and steri
lizers and scales and thermom
eters and everything necessary
for a highly systematized and
scientific nursery, but there was
no incubator, and there was no
long line of impertinent, curious
faces, constantly passing and con
stantly changing. Marjorie was
homesick.

Mrs. Fielding made the first
entry on a brand-new chart,
with triumphant satisfaction.
She epitomized Marjorie in an
array of dates and figures. To
Mrs. Fielding and Chiswick, the
new nurse, all was well so long as
the chart was normal. When
28

THE INCUBATOR BABY

the figures on the chart were
abnormal they considered that
the baby in the crib had trans
gressed the laws of system and
science, and they paid her little
attentions in the way of small
powders administered in a tea
spoon.

Marjorie missed the nickel-
plated trimmings of her incu
bator and she longed to see the
procession of faces that she had
seen so often. She would have
given two degrees of tempera
ture and three respirations just
to have a fat, greasy East Side
washlady beam upon her as in
the incubator days. Even the
occasional visits of her father
became a joy. She hoped he
29

THE INCUBATOR BABY

would be sufficiently weak-
minded to take her in his
arms, but he was afraid to do
anything that might affect the
beautifully correct procession of
figures on the chart. She tried
to soften Chiswick with smiles,
and betray her father with
gurgles, and she even attempted
to astonish her mother by as
suming a high temperature and
a low pulse, but all she got was
a disreputable chart record and
a dose of white powder.

She lay back and puckered
up her chin and yelled a good,
healthy baby yell. Chiswick
entered it on the chart. She
added a disparaging remark to
the effect that the cry was for
30

THE INCUBATOR BABY

" no apparent reason." It was
an insult, and Marjorie consid
ered it one.

Where were the pink and
white playfellows? A ripple
shook the white of her lace-
decked skirt; two lumps arose
in it; they pushed upward
higher and higher until the skirt
slid back, and peeping over its
edge came ten rosy toes that
twinkled at her mischievously.
Marjorie held out her hand ap-
pealingly, and the two plump
feet, that had not dared to ven-x
ture into the atmosphere of the
scientific nursery, cast aside their
hesitation, and met the waiting
hands half way.

" Sakes alive ! ' exclaimed
31

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Chiswick, " if the child isn't
trying to put both its feet in its
mouth! "

Marjorie lay in blissful con
tent; she had found human
companionship.

II

It must be said, to the credit
of incubators and science, that
Marjorie was a beautifully nor
mal baby. Mrs. Fielding took
the greatest possible satisfaction
in that. She was always ready to
show Marjorie's record charts
to visitors, and it was touching
to see with what motherly pride
she exhibited them. There was
not another baby in the town
that had maintained such an
even temperature, such a steady
respiration, or such a reliably
even pulse.

33

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Mr. Fielding was no less proud
of the record. He bragged
about it at the club and tried
to induce his married friends to
allow their babies to enter tem
perature matches with Marjorie,
offering to wager two to one
that Marjorie could maintain a
normal temperature for a longer
time than any baby of her age
and weight.

When Marjorie reached six
months Mr. Fielding decided
that she deserved a reward of
merit, and he made her a present
of an oak filing cabinet of six
teen drawers, together with three
thousand index cards. There
was the food drawer, with cards
for every day of the year, and
34

THE INCUBATOR BABY

places on each card to note the
time of every feeding, the ounces
of food taken, the minutes Mar-
jorie required to take the food,
the formula of the food, and
the average cost of food per
hour.

There was the clothing drawer,
with cards on which to record
the weight of clothing worn, the
temperature of the air, the num
ber of pieces of clothing worn,
the method by which the gar
ments were washed, and for re
marks on the comparative good
effects of cotton, wool, silk, and
linen garments.

There were cards for sleep
records, weight records, tem
perature, respiration, and pulse
35

THE INCUBATOR BABY

records — in fact Marjorie was
analyzed and specified until one
could tell at a glance just how
many thousandths of an ounce
of food she consumed for each
beat of her heart, or how many
times she breathed per pound
of clothing worn.

Unfortunately, the nurse,
Chiswick, objected. She threat
ened to leave. She said her
professional training had not
included card systems, and that
even if she had had a modern
business education, she had no
time to keep such multitudi
nous records. Mr. Fielding
promptly engaged a private sec
retary for Marjorie. Miss Vick-
ers knew all about card index
36

THE INCUBATOR BABY

systems. She loved two things
passionately — card systems and
babies.

And then, just when a record
card had been allotted to every
function of Marjorie's pink and
white body, a complication arose.
Marjorie developed a will and a
temper.

She decided that she had
reached the age when she ought
to sit alone. She looked upon
the world and saw Chiswick
sitting upright and Miss Vickers
sitting upright and she longed
to sit upright too. For six
months she had reposed docilely
upon her back or her stomach,
with occasional variations of
lying on one side or the other,
37

THE INCUBATOR BABY

and she felt that she had had
enough of it. It was time to
have a backbone and to take
her place as a sitter. She told
Chiswick so plainly enough.
When Chiswick laid her on her
back she yelled and raised her
head. When Chiswick laid
her on her stomach she turned
over upon her back and raised
her head and yelled. A little
more and she would have been
able to sit up without aid.
Her head and her neck sat up
— as far as they could. At
least they flopped forward and
tossed from side to side, but her
backbone would not follow. It
continued to repose in placid
flatness on the pillow. Mar-
38

THE INCUBATOR BABY

jorie was very angry with her
backbone. She got quite purple
in the face about it at times,
and choked.

Chiswick was very dense.
Marjorie's head and neck ex
plained again and again what
they wanted to do, but Chiswick
could not understand them.
She did not appreciate that it
was ambition — she thought it
was colic. She pepperminted
Marjorie until the sight of the
peppermint spoon made Mar
jorie tremble with rage, and
when Marjorie had absorbed
ounces and ounces of pepper
mint water, Chiswick decided
that Marjorie was past the colic
age, anyway.

39

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Miss Vickers discovered what
Marjorie wanted.

"I believe," she said, "that
the child wants to sit up," and
then she tried it. That is why
Marjorie loved Miss Vickers and
hated Chiswick — and pepper
mint — from that day onward.

It would hav-e all ended there
if Marjorie had been willing to
compromise, but she was not
willing. The first day she
might have been willing, but
when a person has cried steadily
for three days and has fought
such a good fight, she feels it
her right to dictate terms. She
would not compromise on an
angle of forty-five degrees. She
refused to be satisfied with a
4o

THE INCUBATOR BABY

plump, downy pillow at her
back. She would sit upright
and alone, or yell.

Not that it mattered that she
sat upright and unsupported,
except that she could not. Miss
Vickers would seat her so and
steady her for a moment, but
when the protecting hands were
removed Marjorie unfailingly
collapsed. Sometimes she sank
backward upon her pillow wa
ving her arms impotently, but
usually she doubled disgracefully
forward until her nose bumped
against her knee, or toppled to
one side or the other like a
pulpy fallen idol. Her back
bone was irritatingly pliable —
somewhat like a wet rag in
41

THE INCUBATOR BABY

stiffness. It was a poor affair,
as backbones go. She might
quite as well not have had any.
It made Marjorie remarkably
angry.

She spent three entire days in
a continuous round of being set
up and crumpling down again
into the various bunchy shapes,
and each day her temper grew
more violent. For the first time
in her life she cried real tears.

Mrs. Fielding was usually
busy. Her club life was en
grossing, but when, for three
days in succession, the index
cards bore the words "Cried all
day," she felt it her duty to in
vestigate. She went to the
nursery, indignant.
42

THE INCUBATOR BABY

"Well, mam," said Chiswick,
" I don't know how to stop her.
My opinion is that it's temper.
She will sit up, mam, and she
can't. We set her up, like she
wants, and then she topples down
and hollers. She hollers if we
do and she hollers if we don't.
You can do a thing or you can
leave it undone, and there ain't
nothing else you can do. There
ain't anything between them two
ways. If there was we might
suit her."

"You should distract her at
tention," said Mrs. Fielding.

"She won't distract," declared

Chiswick. "She made up her

mind to sit up alone — which

she can't — and she gets in a

43

THE INCUBATOR BABY

temper over it, and her temper's
getting worse right along."

Mrs. Fielding looked at her
daughter doubtfully.

"Perhaps she needs a little
punishment," she suggested, " but
I am not sure that the latest au
thorities approve of punishment.
I will let you know. I should
like to consult others before
acting."

Mrs. Fielding laid the matter
before the Mothers' club at its
next meeting. She found the
Mothers' club to be frankly and
openly divided on the question.
Mothers who had at first held
the most modern ideas had fallen
into laxly illogical methods, and
instead of taking broad views of

44

THE INCUBATOR BABY

the infant as a theoretical sub
ject, had become rank individual
ists. Mrs. Jones could talk only
of Johnny Jones and Mrs. Smith
argued all questions to and from
Susie Smith. Mrs. Fielding found
no satisfaction there and at length
appealed to the monthly convo
cation of the local federation of
Women's clubs, which included
the best intellect of all the women
of the city. When the federation
had finished considering the ques
tion, Mrs. Fielding found that
she was one of a committee of four
appointed to direct the growth of
Marjorie in mind, body, and soul.
The federation had undertaken
to guide Marjorie through the
pitfalls of infancy.
45

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Miss Martha Wiles, of the
Browning club, was made chair
man of the committee; Miss
Vesey, of the Higher Life circle,
and Miss Loring, of the Physical
Good guild, were members of it,
and Mrs. Fielding was added at
the last moment to represent the
Mothers' club because the other
members of the Mothers' club
said they had enough to do to
look after their own babies.

When the committee con
vened in the Fielding nursery
to consider Marjorie's temper,
Marjorie greeted it with a sweet
smile. The committee sat on
the sofa and Marjorie sat in her
crib. She had conquered her
backbone and was on good
46

THE INCUBATOR BABY

terms with it and the world
again.

The committee entered upon
its duties enthusiastically. It be
gan by studying the records of
Marjorie. It met daily to adopt
rules and regulations and spent
hours over the card cabinet until
it became thoroughly acquainted
with Marjorie's averages. Then
it made out a schedule of normal
development for mind and body.

Chiswick viewed the schedule
skeptically.

"It's a nice schedule, mam,
I'll say that much for it," she
said, "but if the day comes when
she's entered to creep, and she
don't creep, what am I going to
do about it?"

47

THE INCUBATOR BABY

"It is your duty to see that she
does creep/' said Miss Wiles.

"Very well, mam," said Chis-
wick, "but may I ask one ques
tion?"

" You may. It is your duty to
ask questions. Refer all your
doubts to the committee," replied
Miss Wiles.

"Then," said Chiswick, "an
swer me this. On page six of the
records of the committee it says:
4 Whereas, the lower strata of air
i-n a room are the abiding places
of millions of germs; and where
as, children playing upon the floor
must breathe the said air; and
whereas, children playing upon
the floor take into their mouths
and convey thence to their stom-

THE INCUBATOR BABY

achs the said germs, as well as
pins, lint, needles, buttons, and
other indigestible and highly in
jurious substances. Therefore, be
it resolved, that the said Marjorie
Fielding shall never be allowed to
sit, lie, recline, or rest upon the
floor, nor upon any rug, blanket,
or other covering upon the said
floor.' What I want to know is,
how the child is to learn to creep
if she isn't to be allowed on the
floor."

The committee looked at it
self questioningly. Miss Loring
giggled. Miss Wiles alone saved
the day.

"You will, of course," she
said, haughtily, "give the child
her lessons in creeping upon a
49

THE INCUBATOR BABY

table. Mrs. Fielding will see
that one is provided."

When the committee was
gone Chiswick walked over to
the crib where Marjorie lay and
looked at her doubtfully. Ac
cording to the schedule a creep
was due from Marjorie in six
weeks and Marjorie had only
learned the art of sitting alone.
Sitting alone at seven months is
not bad progress for an incu
bator baby and Marjorie was
rather proud of it.

"Well," said Chiswick, "you've
got to do it, and if you've got to
do it you might as well begin
to learn now."

Marjorie was lifted and de
posited upon her rotund little
50

THE INCUBATOR BABY

stomach, which protruded so
much that she rocked back and
forth upon it like a helpless
hobby horse. She looked up at
Chiswick appealingly but saw
only a stern taskmistress.

"Lie that way a while," said
Chiswick coldly. "Get used to
it," and she went away.

Marjorie laid her cheek on the
cool sheet and thought. It was a
rather pleasant position. It gave
hera comfortablecompressed sen
sation below the waist. She liked
it but she could not afford to be
idle. She raised her head and
peered around, as a tortoise peers,
lengthening her neck. A foot be
yond her reach she saw her rattle.
She stretched her hands for it and
51

THE INCUBATOR BABY

only succeeded in bringing her
pudgy little nose flat against the
sheet. She kicked with her feet,
but even that did not bring the
rattle within reach; it only served
to rock her gently to and fro on
her stomach. Marjorie needed
the rattle. She had still several
hundred shakes to give it before
her day's work would be com
plete. And the rattle needed
Marjorie; it looked forlorn and
lonely. Even as she considered
the matter Marjorie found that
she was raising her body on her
plump little arms. They were act
ing like little posts to elevate her
shoulders and head. Then, in a
most phenomenal way, one knee
doubled itself and drew up under
52

THE INCUBATOR BABY

her body, and the other followed
it, and she was on her hands and
knees.

From this frightfully elevated
position the rattle appeared quite
near, so near that it seemed as if
she could touch it. She put out
a hand, and lo! the whole fabric
of herself that she had reared,
collapsed, and she was sprawled
flat on the sheet.

But the rattle certainly seemed
nearer. She tried it again, and
this time she put her hand for
ward only a little way, and fol
lowed it with the other, but she
was firmly anchored at the rear,
and there was no elasticity in her
body. It would not stretch an
other inch. She thought of her
53

THE INCUBATOR BABY

legs reproachfully. But for them
she might even now have the
rattle. Her legs felt the reproach
and wiggled with shame. They
knew they were in disgrace and
they longed to come closer and
nestle lovingly against Marjorie.
One of them moved forward
slowly and paused. Its fellow,
fearing it was being deserted,
moved up beside it, but cruel
Marjorie moved her hands for
ward again.

She could almost touch the
rattle! One more forward
movement of her legs and —

Chiswick, turning, saw it just

in time. She was beside the

crib in one bound, and her right

hand pressed down upon Mar-

54

THE INCUBATOR BABY

jorie and squeezed her deep into
the softness of the crib, and held
her there kicking and squealing.

"Land sakes!' cried Chis-
wick. "You're breaking the
schedule! You can't creep now.
The idea! What will that there
committee say ! What will they
say of you to that federation
of clubs! You and me won't
have no reputation left. Don't
you ever creep till I say so.
Never!"

She picked up the offended
Marjorie and set her upright in
the end of the crib. Marjorie
rolled over upon her hands and
knees. She wanted the rattle.
She scoffed at schedules. Chis-
wick held her down with one
55

THE INCUBATOR BABY

hand and reached for the rattle
with the other.

" Now I 've got to watch you
day and night/' she grumbled,
"or we'll be having resolutions
made about us, and things voted,
and land knows what! You'd
break the whole constitution and
by-laws, you would."

Marjorie smiled gleefully, and
struggled to free herself. Chis-
wick tied her to the head of the
crib with a strip of antiseptic
bandage; and entered in the
day book: "Tried to creep; re
strained by nurse."

When the committee met

again they passed a resolution

of thanks to Chiswick for her

prompt action, and Marjorie's

56

C:'^

"Chiswick tied her to the head of the crib with a strip of
antiseptic bandage"

THE INCUBATOR BABY

private secretary entered it on
the records. As she wrote the
last word she looked at Mar-
jorie and winked, and Marjorie
smiled wickedly.

There were hours when Chis-
wick was off duty, and then the
private secretary was left alone
in charge of Marjorie, and those
were hours of riotous living.
The private secretary was scien
tific — as a bookkeeper — but
as a nurse she was ignorantly
human.

She scoffed at the Higher
Life for Women; she ate candy
and avoided as much as possible
her physical good. She refused
to be emancipated. She had an
idea it meant something in the
57

THE INCUBATOR BABY

way of doing without lacing and
wearing shoes a size too large
for one.

So when she was left alone
with Marjorie they had a good
time. They sat on the floor
and imbibed germs, and they
did all sorts of unscientific, retro
gressive things. Perhaps that
was why Marjorie remained a
sweet, cheerful baby instead
of becoming a sour little old
woman.

One evening when Chiswick
was away the private secretary
and Marjorie were having a
romp on the floor of the nur
sery. It was a handicap race,
a creeping match, and the pri
vate secretary was handicapped
58

THE INCUBATOR BABY

by her skirts. The two were so
interested that they did not hear
the nursery door open. When
Marjorie had won the twenty-
foot dash the private secretary
turned, and blushed with con
fusion and guilt. Mr. Fielding
stood in the doorway! A frown
darkened his brow and he looked
at the private secretary with
severity.

Miss Vickers sprang to her
feet hastily and brushed out the
folds of her skirt.

"Well!" exclaimed Mr.Field-
ing. "So this is how you be
have! This is what you may
be expected to do when you
are trusted alone with the child !
What do you suppose Mrs.Field-
59

THE INCUBATOR BABY

ing and the committee would

^ »
sayr

The private secretary laughed.
Marjorie laughed and clapped
her hands. Mr. Fielding frowned
and picked Marjorie up. He
put her in the crib, and Mar
jorie, rudely taken from her
playmate by this stern man,
lifted up her voice and wailed.
She turned red in the face and
howled. There was a swish of
silk skirts — which never should
be worn in the nursery — a rush
of feet, and a hand pushed Mr.
Fielding aside. With one sweep
of her arms the private secretary
gathered Marjorie to her breast.

"What did you do to her?'
she cried. " Much you know
60

THE INCUBATOR BABY

about babies, and all your silly
committees ! '

Mr. Fielding paused irresolute.
Marjorie cooed gently in her
protector's arms, and her father
looked at her curiously.

"You — you don't believe in
scientific motherhood?' he said
to Miss Vickers. He seemed
to be asking for information;
seeking light on a question that
had already raised itself in his
mind.

"'Scientific' doesn't hurt any,
but it needs some mother with
it," she replied. " See her smile ! '

Mr. Fielding leaned forward
cautiously.

"She does, doesn't she ? ' he
said, with curiosity. " I never
61

THE INCUBATOR BABY

saw that before. It is quite in
teresting."

"It's great!' exclaimed the
private secretary. "You take
her a minute and I'll show you
something else."

Mr. Fielding took her, care
fully.

The private secretary clapped
her hands and Marjorie looked
toward her.

" Two hands, baby," she said,
and the two pink arms reached
out to her.

"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Field
ing, "How human!'

"See if she will do it for you,"
suggested the girl.

Mr. Fielding clapped his
hands. "Two hands!" he said.
62

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Marjorie looked at him good
naturedly. If he was willing to
play she could forgive every
thing. She reached out her
hands, and jumped toward her
father. Before he knew how it
happened, he had pressed his
lips to her soft cheek and her
hands were entangled in his
hair.

When the doorbell rang, half
an hour later, Mr. Fielding was
on his hands and knees play
ing "peek-boo!" with Marjorie.
Miss Vickers swept her into her
crib and helped him to arise
hastily. Then she pushed him
toward the door.

" It is Chiswick !" she whis
pered. "Hurry!"
63

THE INCUBATOR BABY

" Yes!" he whispered in return.
«We — we will keep this mat
ter private? It is not necessary
to inform any one."

The private secretary watched
him nervously while he gave
Marjorie a last, long kiss, and
then she pushed him gently from
the nursery. She really had to
push him out.

When Mrs. Fielding was ap
pointed to read a paper on
Scientific Motherhood at the an
nual convention of the national
federation of Women's clubs,
she accepted the task with due
modesty but not without a sense
of complete fitness. Her mere
presence in the distant conven
tion city would in itself be a
64

•i

bfl

C

'•3

THE INCUBATOR BABY

proof of the correctness of her
theories. Under what other
system could a mother leave her
young baby and devote a week's
absence to club duties? She
felt quite at ease, however, for
the three remaining members of
the committee of four were in
charge of Marjorie's welfare, and
back of the committee was the
entire federation of her city.
She took the train with a grate
ful sense of freedom.

It was the opportunity Mar-
jorie had been awaiting. No
sooner had Mrs. Fielding left
the city than Marjorie raised her
temperature two degrees, just
as an experiment. It was wonder
fully successful. It made Chis-
65

THE INCUBATOR BABY

wick scurry around the nursery
with distracted concern. Mar-
jorie raised her temperature a
few degrees more and Chiswick
telephoned for the committee.

The committee came, con
sulted and wondered what to do.
It decided to await develop
ments, and went away again.

As Mrs. Fielding sped toward
the place where she was to ex
ercise the noble functions of her
mind, Marjorie, in the nursery,
lay in the private secretary's
arms, at times sleeping and at
times with wide-open, glassy,
bright eyes. The private secre
tary was staying overtime, but
she did not mind it. She was
glad to stay because Marjorie
66

THE INCUBATOR BABY

was fretful and would not let
Chiswick touch her.

Marjorie moved about rest
lessly in Miss Vickers's arms, try
ing fresh positions each moment,
and tossing her hot head from
side to side. Her cheeks glowed
red, and the same red over
spread her forehead and gleamed
through the tossed gold of her
hair. Where her head touched
it the private secretary's arm
burned as under a hot iron.

The private secretary — who
really had no voice at all —
chanted:

" Ma-mie had a lit-tle lamb,

Little lamb,

Little lamb,

Ma-mie had a lit-tle lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow."

6?

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Marjorie fretted. She did not
want to be sung to. She did
not know what she wanted. She
was not used to being abnormal
in temperature, it made her pee
vish, but she was lovable even
so, for through the peevishness
stray smiles would creep — sick
little " please — excuse — Mar
jorie" — smiles, to show she had
no hard feelings, but just one
great uncomfortable feeling.

"You dear, dear, dear baby!"
the private secretary exclaimed,
and bent and kissed the hot
cheek.

It was a hard night for the

private secretary but it was a

treasured night. It was blessed

to feel the little hot baby rest-

68

THE INCUBATOR BABY

ing in her arms and to be able to
give up sleep and comfort and
everything for the sleepless child.

When the sun arose Marjorie
had fallen asleep, but tossed rest
lessly, and on her white skin,
from which the fever had re
treated, thousands of bright red
spots glowed and glowed. Mar
jorie had the measles.

Chiswick suggested sending a
hurry call for the committee,
but while she was sending it the
private secretary routed Mr.
Fielding from his bed. He came
to the nursery in bath robe and
slippers, and dashed out again to
set the telephone bell clamoring.

Before the committee had its
pompadours well under way the
69

THE INCUBATOR BABY

good old bulky doctor was bend
ing over Marjorie's crib.

"Very severe attack," he said,
" but not necessarily dangerous.
Keep her (and so on), give her
(and so on). I'll drop in after
noon."

When the committee arrived
an hour later it had nothing to
do but approve or disapprove of
what had already been done. It
decided to send Mrs. Fielding
bulletins. Nothing weak or ex
citing; just cool, calm statements
of facts. Things in the manner
of reports to a fellow committee
woman.

Mrs. Fielding received the
first as she was in the hands of
the reception committee.
70

THE INCUBATOR BABY

"Marjorie has measles. No
cause for alarm," it said. She
frowned. Why should they
bother her with trifles.

About noon she received an
other message. It read : "Pa
tient's condition unchanged. No
cause for alarm."

She crumpled it in her hand
and threw it on the floor. It
had interrupted an inspiring
conversation on the Higher
Life.

When the doctor visited Mar
jorie about noon he sat fully
five minutes with her, which
was unusually long for such a
busy man, and as he left he
gravely remarked that he would
drop in during the evening.
71

THE INCUBATOR BABY

He did not like the way those
red spots were fading.

When he returned he frowned.
Mr. Fielding was sitting on the
cribside holding one of Mar-
jorie's hot hands and gently pass
ing his ringers over her brow.
The private secretary was on her
knees at the other side of the
crib. But the doctor did not
frown at either of these.

" I don't like her condition,
at all," he said. « Not at all.
But Til try to pull her through.
Telephone my wife I'll not be
home to-night, will you ? '

Marjorie lay in open-eyed

listlessness, staring upward at

nothing. Her breath was short

and rapid, and her heart beat

72

THE INCUBATOR BABY

like the quick strokes of a trip
hammer.

She wondered vaguely why
this strange thing was happen
ing to her, and when the private
secretary touched her she tried
to smile, and only succeeded
in making white lines about her
drawn, dry lips.

It was nine o'clock when Mrs.
Fielding arose to read her paper
before the national convention,
and as she arose she was handed
a telegram. It was from the
committee.

"Patient seriously ill. Best
possible medical attendance. Do
not worry."

Mrs. Fielding read it and
walked to the rostrum. « Presi-
73

THE INCUBATOR BABY

dent and ladies," her paper
began, "my child is an example
of the benefits of scientific
motherhood," but she did not
read it so. As she stood facing
her audience, her paper trembled
in her hand, and as she looked
at the lines written upon it they
said but one thing — "Patient
seriously ill."

" President and ladies," she
began, " my child is — my child
is — " The lines vanished and
she faltered. " My child," she
said, " is — is very ill to-night. I
must go, of course. You must
excuse me," and she turned and
fled.

It was rather odd that the
first articulate word that Marjo-
74

THE INCUBATOR BABY

rie said in her life was uttered
about that time. She had grown
more irritable and had pushed
away her father's hand and the
drink that the private secretary
offered her.

"What do you want, little
girl?" Miss Vickers asked, and
Marjorie, whole weeks ahead of
her schedule, said, " Ma-ma."

75

Ill

For an incubator baby, Mar-
jorie handled the measles re
markably well. After a first
reluctant period when she seemed
to prefer death to disfigurement,
she blossomed into exceeding
spotfulness and rioted in soda
baths, and then she gently faded
into her usual pink-and-white-
ness. The effect on her system
was excellent, but to Chiswick,
her faithful nurse, it brought
distress.

The world bows down before
a sick baby, but a convalescent
76

THE INCUBATOR BABY

baby puts its foot on the neck
of the prostrate world and then
pushes. Marjorie ruled. She
demanded many things. She
insisted on being rocked to sleep,
and sung to, and being held
while awake, and all manner of
things that her governing com
mittee considered debilitating
and antiquated, and Mrs. Field
ing, glowing with newly found
mother love, decided that Mar
jorie must have them. She felt
that a little petting would not
harm the child, but she was
afraid of Chiswick.

Chiswick, like an incorrupt
ible guard, was always present,
and back of Chiswick was the
governing committee, and back
77

THE INCUBATOR BABY

of the committee was the Fed
eration of Women's Clubs, and
back of that was all the great
theory of scientific motherhood
and the greater theory of the
Higher and Better Life for
Women. Mrs. Fielding felt that
the eye of the world was upon
her, and that Chiswick was that
eye. The only way to secure
freedom was to put the eye out,
so she put it out. She gave
Chiswick an afternoon off.

Chiswick went reluctantly.
She was a lover of duty, and she
had but one desire in life, to see
Marjorie keep to her schedule.

Mrs. Fielding and Marjorie
had a good time that afternoon.
Marjorie learned to put her arms
78

THE INCUBATOR BABY

around her mother's neck and
to lay her face close against her
mother's face, but Chiswick wan
dered up and down before the
house disconsolately.

When she was let in she threw
off her hat and dashed at Mar-
jorie greedily. She took her
pulse eight times in succession
and refused supper because she
wanted to get so many respira
tions and temperatures that she
had no time to eat.

She was just settling down to
a nicely scientific evening when
Mr. Fielding entered the nur
sery. Mr. Fielding feared Chis
wick as much as he feared Mrs.
Fielding. He cast one glance
at Marjorie, sweet and clean in
79

THE INCUBATOR BABY

her nightgown, and another at
the door, and then smiled at
Chiswick. It was a guileful
smile.

" Chiswick," he said, " it is a
beautiful evening."

"Is it, sir?" she asked, coldly.

"Beautiful," he returned with
great enthusiasm. " Beautiful !
I never saw a finer night — out
side."

"You don't say!' she re
marked, but her voice expressed
the deepest unconcern for the
weather. Mr. Fielding moved
toward Marjorie. Chiswick
quietly slipped between them.

" My ! ' Mr. Fielding ex
claimed. "You are not look
ing at all yourself, Chiswick.
80

THE INCUBATOR BABY

You are overworking. I don't
know what Mrs. Fielding can
be thinking about to let you
wear yourself out so. You are
so faithful, so — "

Chiswick shook her head.

"I don't want no outing,"
she said, sullenly. "I've had
one. I don't need no more.
I'm well."

"Really," said Mr. Fielding,
"a little run in this fresh eve
ning air would do wonders for
you; wonders! It would quite
set you up again. You must
think of your health, Chiswick."
He eyed Marjorie longingly.

" No, thank you," said Chis
wick. "I'll try to get along."

"Chiswick!" said Mr. Field-
Si

THE INCUBATOR BABY

ing. "I insist. You may neg
lect your health if you wish, but
I cannot. What would Mar-
jorie do if you should get sick
— and die? I insist that you
must go out for a little consti
tutional. Say for two hours, or
three, if you wish."

Chiswick balked and Mr.
Fielding gently put his hand
against her shoulder and pushed
her to the door. She gave a
last longing glance backward
into the nursery and went. For
two hours she sat desolately on
the horse block and then sadly
entered the house with a cold in
her head.

Marjorie was asleep, but when
she heard Chiswick's tread she
82

THE INCUBATOR BABY

sighed and held up one soft
hand. Chiswick clasped it —
and took her pulse.

The next morning Miss
Vickers looked up from her
task of filling in the record
cards for the previous day and
smiled at Chiswick. It was un
usual, for they were not the
best of friends, and Chiswick
hardened instantly.

"I'm looking sick, ain't I?"
she said, defiantly. " I need air,
don't I? I'll lose my com
plexion if I don't go out and
sit a few hours on that stone
horse block, won't I? Huh!
Not for you! No, mam, I'll
out in the afternoon for Mrs.
Fielding, and I '11 out in the eve-
83

THE INCUBATOR BABY

ning for Mr. Fielding, if I have
to, but I won't out in no morn
ing for no private secretary. Not
much?"

"I only thought," said Miss
Vickers, sweetly, "that perhaps
you'd like to take a little fresh
air. I don't mind tending Mar-
jorie, if you would."

"I wouldn't," said Chiswick,
shortly.

" Oh ! " said Miss Vickers. She
wrote rapidly for a few moments.
" By the way," she said, between
cards. "I forgot to tell you — "
she wrote in a temperature —
"that the committee" — another
card — "said that a new steri
lizer is needed" — another rec
ord written — "and said to tell

THE INCUBATOR BABY

you to get one" — another card
— "this morning."

Chiswick threw the baby
clothes she held in her hand
upon the crib with more than
necessary violence. She jammed
her hat on her head and stuck a
hat pin through it vindictively.
She ran all the way to the drug
gist's and back, and as she en
tered the house she glanced at
the horse block spitefully. Mrs.
Fielding met her at the door.

"Chiswick," she said, "I'm
going to let you have another
afternoon out to-day."

Marjorie enjoyed Chiswick's

outings. She found herself in

a world where people did nice

things to her, and her appetite

85

THE INCUBATOR BABY

for petting became a vice.
When entertainment stopped
she doubled up her fists, closed
her eyes and yelled. Some
times, if her demands went long
unanswered, she held her breath
until she was purple in the face.
Against such a plea only Chis-
wick could remain obdurate.
She seemed absolutely incor
ruptible, but she was not. Every
woman has her price.

It was an afternoon of the
meeting of the federation and
Mrs. Fielding was out. Miss
Vickers was out, too, and Chis-
wick was happy. She did not
have to take an outing.

Marjorie sat on the sterilized
floor and planned the downfall
86

THE INCUBATOR BABY

of Chiswick. She wanted to be
rocked asleep, and that, like
Mary's little lamb, was against
the rule. Scientific babies are
laid in the crib and go to
sleep without rocking. Marjorie
wept.

She began by rubbing her
eyes with the back of her chubby
fists and yawning until her
mouth was a little pink circle.
That was to tell Chiswick she
was sleepy. Chiswick put her
in the crib.

Marjorie sat up and whim
pered, pausing from time to time
to look at Chiswick. Chiswick
remained calm and indifferent.
Marjorie lay back, stiffened her
limbs and yelled. Chiswick was
8?

THE INCUBATOR BABY

not affected. Marjorie rolled
over on one side, raised her
voice an octave, and shrieked,
beating the side of her crib with
her fists. She became purple in
the face. Chiswick paid no
attention.

Marjorie, disgusted, became
suddenly quiet. She feigned
meekness. She sat up in her
crib and smiled. She pretended
that sleep and rocking were far
thest from her thoughts. She
coaxed to be put on the floor.
Chiswick yielded so far, as a re
ward of merit.

Without an instant's hesitation
Marjorie crept to the rocking
chair that stood in one corner of
the room and tried her latest

THE INCUBATOR BABY

and most famous trick. It was
a trick of which she was justly
proud. When she had done it
for her mother she had been de-
liciously hugged, and it never
failed to win a kiss from her
father. True, she had always
performed it with the assistance
of a crib leg, but the rocking
chair looked serene. Marjorie
could stand on her own legs,
with something to hold to, and
she was going to do it for Chis-
wick.

She raised herself on her knees
by the chair, and grasped it
firmly by the seat. Cautiously
she drew a foot up under her
and tested her knee strength.
It was good. She raised herself

THE INCUBATOR BABY

carefully and slid the other foot
beside its companion, stiffened
her knees and was standing up
right ! It was glorious ! She
turned her head to see how
Chiswick was taking it. The
chair failed her basely. It
swung forward in an unaccount
able manner and developed a
strange instability. Marjorie
grasped it firmly and it reared
up in front and then dived down
again. She cast an agonized
glance at Chiswick, staggered,
grasped widely in the air for a
firmer support, gasped, and sat
down so suddenly that the bot
tles in the sterilizer on the table
rattled.

The chair, released, nodded at
90

THE INCUBATOR BABY

her sagely once or twice and
settled into a motionless and
fraudulent appearance of sta
bility.

Marjorie was not to be fooled
twice by the same chair. She
tried it cautiously. She put her
hand on it and it swayed. She
took her hand off and it became
still. It was a remarkable mech
anism. She crawled around to
one side and tried it there. It
was much better so. She up
ended herself again, and the
chair, altho it wabbled distract-
ingly, did not cast her off.

Chiswick was not duly im
pressed. She seemed to consider
standing upright quite an every
day matter. Marjorie hesitated,
91

THE INCUBATOR BABY

looked at her appealingly, and
then, to overwhelm her, released
one hand and stood alone, sup
ported by one hand only.

Suddenly the deceitful chair
began to rock again. It fell
sickeningly beneath her hand,
and arose again, only to fall once
more. Marjorie trembled. If
all the world should develop this
instability ! If cribs and floors
and walls should take to sinking
and rising.

She lost faith in the inanimate.
Nothing was firm and secure
but strong, warm arms, holding
one firmly. She cast off her
remaining clasp on the chair
and in her excitement forgot
that she was standing. She had
92

THE INCUBATOR BABY

but one thought, Chiswick and
safety !

Steadying herself for a moment
she reached out her arms and
took a step toward Chiswick.
She swayed backward, threat
ening to sit down again, and
then in a rush she took three
quick steps, bent forward and
fell flat on her face.

Chiswick darted toward her,
but too late. Her forehead
struck the hard floor just before
Chiswick reached her, and she
screamed with fright. It was
true ! Even the floor had proved
false and had risen to strike her.
Her heart broke, and then, be
fore she knew how, she was
wrapped in Chiswick' s arms and
93

THE INCUBATOR BABY

was being rocked tumultuously.
Chiswick had fallen from scien
tific grace.

After that it was only a ques
tion of who could do the most
to spoil Marjorie. There was
Mrs. Fielding, who was sure no
one suspected her; and Mr.
Fielding, who carefully avoided
publicity in his ministrations;
and Chiswick, who was severely
correct when observed and
weakly indulgent when alone;
and Miss Vickers, who was
shamelessly indifferent to rules.
Between them Marjorie had
quite a normal babyhood, and
the members of the committee
were blissfully unaware of it.
They regularly reported her pro-
94

THE INCUBATOR BABY

gress, and bragged of her scien
tific upbringing.

When Marjorie reached the
age of two years she had cut all
her teeth and was saying words
of one and one-half syllables,
and stringing them together to
form sentences that no one but
her loving intimates could by any
chance understand. By the di
rection of her governing com
mittee she wore frocks cut on
a scientific plan that had origi
nated in the mind of some per
son who had a chronic aversion
to ruffles and whose firm belief
seemed to be that only the ugly
was hygienic. Marjorie wore
health garments that looked like
misfit flour sacks, and health
95

THE INCUBATOR BABY

shoes that made people stop and
stare at her feet. Her garb was
so highly healthful that Marjorie
should have bloomed like a rose,
but she began to droop visibly.
She became pale and peevish and
would not eat her bran mash
and Infant's Delight puddings.
By day she was listless and by
night she slept fitfully and
awakened with screams. She
had no appetite. Every one was
sorry for her and did little things

J D

to please her — on the sly.

In any other child the doctor
would at once have suspected a
wrong diet, but Marjorie's com
mittee had arranged her diet and
it was beyond criticism. The
doctor suggested that perhaps
96

THE INCUBATOR BABY

incubator babies were subject to
such declines. One of the strictest
rules of the committee-arranged
diet was "no sweets." Candy
was absolutely forbidden. On
this point the committee was
most positive.

Miss Vickers considered this
a shocking cruelty. She lived
largely on chocolate creams and
considered a candyless world
pathetic. She pitied Marjorie,
and occasionally, when no one
was looking, she smuggled a fat
chocolate into Marjorie's willing
mouth. Miss Vickers believed
that a little candy was good for
a child, but she was careful not
to give Marjorie more than she
thought was good for her.
97

THE INCUBATOR BABY

Mr. Fielding was of the same
opinion. He could not imagine
an unsweetened childhood, and
whenever he visited the nursery
he smuggled in a few soft bon
bons — the kind that dissolve in
the mouth and leave no clews.
Marjorie approved. She had a
capacity for candy that was
phenomenal. One morning she
and her mother were taking a
little toddle down the street
when they passed one of those
seductive candy shops in which
the basely knowing proprietor
has the show windows cut so low
that the tempting display is very
near the level of a two-year-
old's mouth.

Marjorie stopped. She pushed

THE INCUBATOR BABY

her nose into flatness against the
window and gloated. She edged
back and forth from one side,
where there were chocolate
creams, to the other, where there
were pink bonbons, and her nose
in its course made a clean streak
on the dusty window glass. She
paused hesitatingly before the
floury marshmallows, passed the
cakes of flat chocolate without
qualms, and settled firmly and
finally before the pink bonbons.
She refused to leave the
beautiful spot. When Mrs.
Fielding tried to draw her
away, her nose remained against
the glass and she screamed.
Mrs. Fielding glanced up and
down the street guiltily. Not
99

THE INCUBATOR BABY

a committee member was in
sight. The street was un
troubled by the feet of mem
bers of the Federation of
Women's Clubs. Mrs. Fielding
vanished into the candy shop.
It was quite safe to leave Mar-
jorie outside; she would remain
with her nose, and her nose
seemed permanently affixed to
the window.

But when Mrs. Fielding
emerged with a small paper bag
in her hand Marjorie turned.
The sight of one of the delicious
pink lumps of sweetness being
lifted from the bag drew her
away from the window, and
when the bonbon was dropped
into her open mouth she was
100

THE INCUBATOR BABY

conquered. She followed her
mother gladly. Wherever that
paper bag might go, ^Marjorie
would follow. The last bon
bon disappeared before they
reached home, but Mrs. Field
ing continued to carry the empty
bag, and Marjorie followed it.

"Miss Vickers," said Mrs.
Fielding, as she turned Mar
jorie over to her, "you must
never, never allow any one to give
Marjorie candy. It would not
be good for her." Thus she tried
to secure a monopoly of Marjorie's
love, and forestall any ill effects,
but she did not know the depths
to which Chiswick had sunk.
Concealed in her loose shirt
waist was something that rustled

IOI

THE INCUBATOR BABY

suspiciously like paper and that
made her once care-free con
science cringe at every rustle.

Naturally, Marjorie got too
much candy. Whenever she
was alone with one of her fam
ily she found candy appearing
from unsuspected places about
their persons, and she began to
like confidential little parties of
two.

It was truly joyful to see
Marjorie eat candy. She was
not greedy. At least, she did
not look greedy. She looked
surprised and pleased. She
never seemed so soulful and sin
less as at the moment when her
pink lips closed over a bonbon.
At such a moment she seemed
1 02

THE INCUBATOR BABY

to forget the world and to live
in a more blessed sphere. The
committee was particularly strict
about candy. It made the
most positive rules against
candy and had them pasted on
the walls of the nursery, and
then, during its calls, each of its
members skirmished to be the
last to leave. The last out of the
room usually dropped a piece
of candy into Marjorie's mouth.

Her indisposition was a glori
ous opportunity for the candy
givers. Everybody had a good
excuse for going to the nursery as
often as possible, and she was in
a constant glow of cherubic bliss,
until the day of reckoning came.

She lay on her cot and was
103

THE INCUBATOR BABY

crudely, simply sick. Her eyes
were sunken and her cheeks
varied from pale yellow to fever
ish red. For the first time in
her life she refused candy.

Her family and attendants
and her governing committee
wandered about the nursery,
each with one closed fist hiding
a candy, seeking opportunities
to bend over the crib, and
offer the candy to Marjorie,
unseen by the others. They
made quite a procession. Some
one was bending over the crib
every moment. Finally the doc
tor came and bent over the crib,
too, and then all the others
joined him.

"That child is sick," said the
104

THE INCUBATOR BABY

doctor, taking her from the
crib and concocting a potion.

"We knew that, doctor," said
Miss Vickers. "We knew she
was quite ill."

"111!" he said. "111! I said
sick. Dog sick. She's overfed.
Too much candy."

"Oh!' they all exclaimed.
"Candy! Impossible!'

"The rules of the committee
— " began the chairman.

"Did she eat 'em?" asked
the doctor savagely. "If she did
she ought to be sick. It makes
me sick to look at 'em." He
glared at the assembly. "Which
of you gave her candy?" he
asked. There was no reply.
He turned to Marjorie.
105

THE INCUBATOR BABY

"Like candy?" he asked.

"Yeth," said Marjorie.

"Who gives you candy?' he
inquired. Marjorie looked at
the faces above her. She selected
Chiswick.

"Chithy," she declared.

Chiswick blushed. The others
looked at her in pained sur
prise.

"Who else gives you candy?'
demanded the doctor.

"Papa," said Marjorie.

Mr. Fielding crimsoned and
avoided the eyes that frowned
at him.

Miss Vickers alone spared
him. She tossed her head
defiantly.

"I gave her candy. Lots of
1 06

THE INCUBATOR BABY

it. It's good for her," she
declared.

"Who else?" demanded the
doctor.

"Mamma," said Marjorie.

Mrs. Fielding put her hand
kerchief to her eyes. She was
afraid of the committee and hid
weakly behind her tears, know
ing that they would not attack
her there, but the committee
was not considering an attack. It
was preparing a graceful retreat
and it oozed away before Mar
jorie made its baseness known.

"Doctor," said Mr. Fielding
unsteadily, "do you think you
can pull her through?"

The doctor rumbled deep in
his throat.

107

THE INCUBATOR BABY

« Pull her through ! " he
growled. "Pull her through!
Why don't you ask me?" he
snapped at Mrs. Fielding. Mrs.
Fielding wiped her eyes.

"Will she get well?" she
asked.

The doctor grew scarlet.

"You ask me?" he exclaimed
at Chiswick, but Chiswick only
looked mutely miserable, and
the doctor turned and faced
them.

"Pull her through!' he
growled. "Yes, I'll pull her
through. She's about as ill as
I am, but she's as sick as a dog.
Stuffed with candy. I '11 pre
scribe — "

He turned, and, walking to
1 08

THE INCUBATOR BABY

the wall, tore down the rules
and schedule so carefully pre
pared by the committee. When
he faced Mr. Fielding again he
seemed happier.

"How's your mother?' he
asked.

Mr. Fielding gasped.

"My mother! " he stammered.
"Why — why, she's dead."

"How's your mother, then?"
the doctor asked, turning to
Mrs. Fielding.

"Mother is well, thank you'
she said.

"Good!' the doctor cried.
"I prescribe one grandmother,
one good, old-fashioned grand
mother. And see that she isn't
any new-fangled affair, either, or
109

THE INCUBATOR BABY

I'll turn her out and go out on

the street and pick one to suit

»»
me.

Marjorie, pale and big-eyed,
looked at him wonderingly.

"An incubator is all right
when a mother won't do," he
said, " and a mother is all right
when you can't get a grand
mother, but hang your com
mittees and your rules! The
only good thing about rules is
to find exceptions to them.
What this baby needs more
than anything else is a course
of good, old-style grandmother
ing."

He buttoned his coat and
paused to pinch Marjorie's cheek.

"We know what you want;

1 10

THE INCUBATOR BABY

don't we?" he said, and Mar-
jorie smiled a thin, pale smile.

"Want piece candy," she re
plied.

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